landlord to-day."

"I haven't the money to-day . . ." she wanted to add something else,
but her voice failed her.

"What do you mean? Please give me what you owe me! I hope you don't
think that I can feed anyone free of charge . . . just for fun, or
for the sake of having them as an ornament in my home! A fine
ornament indeed, that stays up all night and comes home only in the
wee hours of the morning!"

"You needn't fear that I won't pay you!" cried Janina suddenly
aroused.

"I need the money right away!"

"You will have it . . . in an hour!" answered Janina, making some
sudden determination; she glanced with such scorn at Mme. Anna that
the latter left without a word, slamming the door after her.

From her companions Janina had heard something about the pawnshop
and she immediately went there to pawn her gold bracelet, the only
one that she possessed.

On returning home she immediately paid Mme. Anna, who was surprised,
but not very polite.

Having done that Janina added: "I will have my meals at the
restaurant; I don't want to trouble you."

"Just as you like. If things here don't suit you, you are free to do
as you please!" whispered the deeply humiliated Mme. Anna.

By that one act Janina incurred the enmity of the whole house.

"I will sell everything I possess . . . even to the last button!"
she said to herself with bitter resolve.

And Janina calculated that for one half of what she had been paying
Mme. Anna she could get all the food that she needed. Wolska
directed her to a cheap lunch-room and she went there for her
dinners; when she had not money enough for that, a roll with a
sardine had to suffice her for the entire day.

But one day the theater was closed, for there were only twenty
rubles in the treasury; on the following day the performance was
postponed because of a heavy downpour. Janina, like everyone else,
did not receive a single copeck from Cabinski and during those two
days had absolutely nothing to eat.

This first hunger which she could not appease because she had
nothing to appease it with had a fearful effect upon her. She felt
within herself a strange and unceasing pain.

"Starvation! Starvation!" Janina whispered to herself in terror.

Hitherto she had known it by its name only. Now she wondered at that
sensation of hunger within her. It seemed strange to her that she
felt like eating and hadn't the money even to buy herself a roll!

"Is it possible that I have nothin